Nissan's xStorage batteries can power your house - and earn you cash

The car company is pulling the batteries out of its electric cars and making them power your house - and even earn you cash.

xStorage will hit the UK later this year, using a second life Nissan Leaf battery (one that’s done the rounds on the roads first) to store power for your home. It’ll charge from the National Grid, storing enough juice to run your home for two or three days.

Got a solar panel or wind turbine? You’ll be able to hook them up to an xStorage battery and store your own power, completely using renewable energy.

You don’t need to be a Leaf owner to get on-board with xStorage, either. Nissan will be selling the system stand-alone, and won’t be checking your driving record to make sure you’re going green on the road too.

It’s a full system, so you don’t need an engineering degree to get one installed - just a large wallet.

The package comes with the hardware, batteries, software and inverter, plus installation, but it’ll set you back around £4000.

You should make that cash back over time, though, by charging the battery during off-peak hours, when electricity is cheap. Selling the juice back to the National Grid could make you as much as £6000 over ten years.

xStorage puts Nissan head-to-head with Tesla’s Powerwall, which uses higher capacity batteries, but is only available in the US.

A 7kW Powerwall will set you back US$3000, and on the surface a 4Kw xStorage install is more expensive - right now, Nissan is predicting £3250/€4000. Keep in mind Tesla's battery doesn't come with an invertor, though, and the Nissan tech is actually cheaper.

That could be set to change before xStorage goes on sale, though. It’s up for pre-order in September, and should be available across the UK in October.